Chapter Text
Their voices were muffled as they talked, his sire standing in the door as he spoke to whoever had interrupted them.
His wings were still fluffed up and awry, his entire appearance having more of a wild edge than usual despite him somehow hiding his pointed ears and fangs. What really caught his attention, though, was just how unhappy his sire sounded.
While each word was muffled and impossible to decipher despite his better hearing, he could still hear the clipped tone his sire was using with the intruder. His shoulders were clearly tense, squared out as opposed to the more relaxed look he took when speaking to humans and his wings kept shifting in their place.
His sire was agitated. Whether it was from the conversation or just the interruption, Techno wasn't sure.
It made something deep inside him prickle, an odd and almost defensive anger rising up at his own sires emotions. A quiet, feral feeling part of him wanted to bite and snap at the intruder until his sire was calm again.
Despite just gorging himself on blood, he felt his fangs ache and his mouth water when Phil stepped to the side and let the human in.
She was familiar. He could recognise her as the one that took his sire away the first time, before he met Wil. Laney? Lacey? Was that her name? She seemed nervous and glanced up to the stairs, barely giving him enough time to dip back behind one of the bannisters to remain out of sight.
He didn’t want to get caught. Phil would be upset with him if he knew he left the nest. He had to stay still and quiet, just close enough to make out their words but far enough away to sneak back to the nest before his sire noticed.
He peeked back out again, barely catching the green of his sires robes as they dipped back into the living room. He waited until their speaking picked back up again, flat and muffled, before inching down the steps.
Anxiety fluttered in his chest for a moment as he shuffled down each step, sure to keep himself as quiet as possible. Kristin mentioned his sire’s hearing not being as good when he appeared more human but he still didn’t want to risk anything.
He bit down the chirp clawing at his throat and shook his head for a moment before continuing down. He was curious and it was too late to turn back now. If he stood up and went back to the nest his sire would surely hear him.
Besides, his curiosity just wouldn’t let him leave things here. Not when he’s so close to figuring out the interruption. Phil probably wouldn’t be too eager to share the real reason so he just had to find things out for himself.
It saved his sire the work of telling him that way.
At least that's what he was telling himself. It was also the excuse he had in mind for if he got caught. But that was for later, for now he continued down the stairs and strained his ears until he was just barely able to decipher their words.
He could just barely see them now from his spot on the stairs, the side of both his sire and the human he allowed into the house.
“-know you’ve been busy with your son and all-”
“I have” his sire’s voice was clipped, distinctly displeased “his health is continuing to fail him and you’re dragging me away from him for what? Are you going to take this house too?”
“Of course not Phil, I-”
“Phillip.”
The human, Lancey or whatever it was, sighed as if his sire was being the difficult one in all this. It made that ugly, aggressive feeling rise up again in his chest. The only thing that stopped a low and grumbling growl from sounding out was her continuing to speak.
“I understand that you’re very upset about your house, I really do, and I’m sure the added stress of your son certainly isn’t helping your mood” she started, speaking slowly and carefully “but at the moment there are more important things tha-”
His sires wings snapped out and rattled, a chirpy hiss echoing through the living room. It was enough to make him freeze, his limbs locking up just as they did when he was back in the nest. It was a threat, clear as day, something that was promising violence if it wasn't rectified.
At least he wasn’t the only one scared by it, he could hear the human startle and gasp from her spot on the couch. He almost wanted to preen at how scared she was of his sire, something proud blooming in his chest.
“I think it’d be wise for you to consider your next words very carefully” Phils voice was cold and deceptively flat as he spoke “I can let a lot of things slide but dismissing my son as something unimportant is far beyond acceptable.”
“...Of course. I’m sorry” she looked down at her lap “that was- it was wrong of me to dismiss things like that. I can’t imagine how you feel after all this.”
His sire was quiet for a moment before forcing his wings back down, tucking them neatly between tense shoulders.
“I’ll forgive you only because of how… accommodating you’ve been” Phil muttered “but I warn you that my instincts are more than a little irate with the situation. I can’t help but be protective.”
“O-oh no I get it completely it's just- I know it's a bad time for you” the human sighed as she stumbled over her words, he flicked his ear in irritation at it “i-is there anything I can do for him?”
“What do you mean?”
“We have food to spare and I’m sure there’s extra medicine. It's not like it's winter yet, we still have time to gather if it's some specific brew that you’ve been using for him.”
“All I ask at the moment is you keep your voice down” his sire said “he needs his rest and I’d hate for him to wake up to a stranger's voice.”
“Of course” annoyingly, the human did lower her voice “I can imagine that’d be quite stressful. But if he doesn’t need anything may I continue with the news? I certainly wouldn’t want him to hear about any news like this.”
Phil leaned back again, relaxing more into the cushions as he gestured for her to continue.
“I’ve never had to break news like this so you really do have to forgive me” the human played with her nails as she annoyingly danced around the cause for her interruption. “But what happened… it's something I could hardly ever imagine hitting our little village. You need to know about it, if only for your own safety.”
“Is it something to do with the fae again?” His sire’s voice was polite again, only a faint undercurrent of exasperation “it really hasn’t been much of a bother, it's not like he can endanger my son when he’s inside all day.”
Guilt welled up for a moment at his sires words but he bit it down, instead focusing on the humans next words. The base of his gums throbbed as she leaned back and exposed her throat for a moment.
“Well- we don’t know if he’s actually involved if I’m honest. You know how tense things are around him but I really don’t think he has it in him to do something so… awful. He’s a nuisance, not a real fae or witch.”
“Done what? You’re dancing around the topic” his sire leaned forwards and part of Technos mind wanted him to bite into the food so they could share “if it's not to do with the fae or assumedly the accommodation you’ve put us in then what could it possibly be?”
“I- uh” the human lowered her voice, forcing him to strain his ears as she leaned in to finish her sentence “there’s been a murder and we- we don’t know who could’ve possibly done such a thing.”
He was barely able to stifle the gasp that ripped through him, eyes going wide at her news. A murder? How was there possibly-
His eyes flicked to his sire and dread pierced through him.
Neausia and anxiety swirled in the bottom of his stomach as he watched faux shock wash over his sire's face, a distinctly smug look in his eye just barely being concealed from the m- human in front of him.
In that moment, he wished he just stayed in the nest like his sire told him too.